Keri Hulme - Novelist
“You want to know about anybody? See what
books they read, and how they've been read...”
Biography
(EARLY
LIFE)
Keri Hulme was born in Christchurch in 1947
as the eldest daughter of a carpenter and a credit manager. The carpenter was
her father who was first-generation New Zealander and her mother was Maori
descent. She has five siblings. Hulme’s work was a tobacco picker in Motueka
after she had left school. In 1967, she started to study for an honors law
degree at the University of Canterbury. However, she left school after four
terms and started to work as a tobacco picker again. She had a dream about a
mute, long-haired, grinning child with strange, green eyes when she was 18. She
wrote a short story called‘Simon Peter’s
Shell’. In next seven years, Simon Peter was still appearing in Hulme’s dream, notes
and drawings. Her writing ability was formed by this.
(CURRENT PERSONAL LIFE - OR LATER LIFE IF
YOUR PERSON IS NO LONGER ALIVE)
She is not interested in sex, god, romantic
attraction. She lives in the octagonal house alone in Okarito. For nine months
of the year, she spends time for writing, painting and drawing. The rest of the
year, she enjoys time with her family.
(IMPORTANT JOBS)
[Novels]
The Bone People (1984)
Bait and On the Shadow Side (In progress)
[Poetry]
The Silences Between (Moeraki
Conversations) (1982)
Lost Possessions (1985)
Strands (1992)
[Short Stories]
Te Kaihau: The Windeater (1986)
Te Whenua, Te Iwi/The Land and The People
(1987)
Homeplaces: Three Coasts of the South
Island of New Zealand (1989)
Stonefish (2004)
(IMPORTANT EVENTS)
The first novel ‘The bone people’ won the
Booker Prize. It was first time to win an award for New Zealand’s book.
(AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS)
Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award (‘Hooks
and Feelers’), 1975;
New Zealand Literary Fund grant, 1975,
1977, 1979,
Maori Trust Fund Prize, 1978
East-West Centre Award, 1979;
Book of the Year Award', 1984
Mobil Pegasus Prize (‘The bone people’),
1985
Booker Prize (‘The bone people’), 1985
the Chianti Ruffino Regional Award (‘Homeplaces’),
1989
Scholarship in Letters, 1990
(CONTRIBUTION TO NEW ZEALAND)
She is the only New Zealander for winning the
Booker Prize, which is one of the authoritative awards.
Edited by Yuta Sakai
Edited by Yuta Sakai
